It's a terrible disease that has nearly taken her life several times, and has left her legally blind with only 37 per cent of her vision left.

But diabetes hasn't stopped this 30-year-old from Tweed Heads from pursuing her passion of photography.

"I actually started photography when I started losing my sight because I wanted to capture the perfect moment that I wouldn't be able to see down the track, because I knew that it was going to get worse as time ticks on," she said.

"I started going blind at 19 and I've gradually lost my sight over the past 12 years.

"I have laser (treatment) every six months to try to relieve the pressure on my eyes."

Diabetes affects one in every 700 children.

More than 122,000 Australians live with the disease.

For Syami Raineman the affects are severe. Hospital visits are a daily occurrence.

"Renal failure, multiple organ failure, big ulcers like the size of grapefruit with big holes in my leg, can't have children, going blind, all of that sort of thing, so it does get a bit depressing," she said.

To stay alive people with type one diabetes need a constant supply of insulin to regulate their blood glucose levels and they're constantly at risk of both hypo (blood sugar too low) and hyperglycaemic (blood sugar too high) reactions.

Enter Syani's best friend and hero, Onyx.

Onyx is a five-year-old maltese-poodle with an extraordinary ability to detect when Syami's blood sugar levels are rising or plummetting.

Onyx has saved Syami's life more than once.

"She does amazing things so for example if my blood sugar level is too high, she'll bark at me to take my insulin and if I don't go and take my insulin when she tells me to, she'll go and get it and bring it to me.

"If I have low blood sugar she'll alert me, but if I'm in an unconscious state which can happen with low blood sugar, she'll alert someone else.

"She'll stand at the window and bark and bark and bark and bark until somebody comes, and she also can answer the phone."

Ms Raineman says Onyx was able to knock the handset of a traditional phone off the cradle to answer it, she'll swipe the mobile with her paw.

"She was better with the landline with than the mobile, she doesn't really do much with the mobile but she was good with the handset" says Syami Raineman.

"She hasn't been trained. It's something she's always done.

"I had another dog who was a maltese poodle cross who's name was Mambo, and he was also exceptional too, he was exactly the same so I'm not sure whether she picked it up from him or whether it's something that's in her."

At one point when Ms Raineman was living at rural Eungella, Onyx ran two kilometres to a neighbour's house after an episode had left its owner unconscious.

Even more extraordinary, Onyx has fed macerated jellybeans into Syami Raineman's mouth when she's been lying unconscious on the floor.

"She chewed them up because I couldn't swallow and put them in my mouth."

Having Onyx allows Syami Raineman to live independently.

She says she couldn't live alone without her.

As remarkable as Onyx's behaviour is, it's not unique.

There is even a charity Paws for Diabetics that trains dogs specifically to detect low blood sugar attacks.

There is an old adage that dogs reflect their owners, and it's not just Onyx that possesses heroic qualities.

Despite her disabilities, Ms Raineman herself was responsible for apprehending a purse snatcher when she'd been walking Onyx at the Jack Evans Boat Harbour.

"All of a sudden I heard this woman screaming and I thought 'What is going on?' She was screaming 'he's got my bag! He's got my bag!'

"So I stuck out my blind cane as this bag snatcher, who I was pretty sure it was the bag snatcher, came running past and he tripped over my blind cane.

"And he went to get up to run and the only thing I could do to keep him down was hit him with my cane, so I hit him twice and I obviously hit him quite hard because the balls on the end of those canes are quite heavy.

"I injured him enough to keep him down while two joggers came past and pinned him to the ground and took the bag out from under his jumper and the lady got her bag back."

Syami's friend Barb Goodrich says she's a hero.

"She is an inspiration to me by her ability to keep her kind soul intact with a happy disposition in the midst of all in her life.